The village of Buttermere in Cumbria is looking to install a 45KW hydro scheme which would supply electricity for the whole village. However, the additional costs to obtain a licence risk halting the scheme
Community schemes to produce electricity from local running waters face being shut down after the Government increased application costs up to nine times.
Hydropower projects will have to pay the Environment Agency as much as £13,392 to get a licence from April, up from the previous cost of £1,500.
The hike could threaten small hydropower endeavours who may not be able to raise the extra funds, according to the EA’s own assessment of the impact of the price rise, which was announced this week.
"The agency is actively slamming the final nail in the coffin of an important renewable energy source which should be a key focus for the government as energy prices soar," said Simon Hamlyn, the chief executive of the British Hydropower Association.
Among the projects that could be derailed is a scheme in the village of Buttermere, Cumbria, to provide more than enough electricity to power all the local homes and businesses by harnessing the energy in water running from one of the local becks.
Local volunteers have raised £75,000 in grant funding towards the scheme, but now face having to find an extra £10,000 for the licence.
'I don't know where we would get that level of funding'
Aine Kelly, 67, who is leading the hydropower project, said the impact of the extra costs would be "unthinkable" and the community is now racing to beat the April deadline.
"If we had to raise an extra £10,000, I don’t know where we would get that level of funding," she said. "We would certainly risk the whole project collapsing."
"It would be a real shame because the community has been working really hard over two years to develop this project," she said. The Telegraph - link - Emma Gatten - link - more like this - link
No comments:
Post a Comment